


That Dark Morn

by LuccaAce



Category: Chrono Trigger
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, I have lots of thoughts about the relationship between these two, I've been playing Chrono Trigger again and it's eaten my brain, Implied/Referenced Suicidal Thoughts, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Warning for Frog's abuse of the English language, i love this game so much, it's really hard to write the way he talks, more like pre-friendship honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 12:45:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12081333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuccaAce/pseuds/LuccaAce
Summary: Frog has questions for Magus before they face Lavos. Magus doesn't like how perceptive Frog is.





	That Dark Morn

**Author's Note:**

> My cousin is making CT in Minecraft and sending me all these screenshots of his work, which made me miss the game terribly, which made me download a SNES emulator and CT ROM, and then eschew my normal life until I had beaten it at least once. While I was playing, I remembered all the little character things I love about these two. Fun fact: I never ever make Frog kill Magus because I love the blue-haired weirdo too much. Another Fun Fact: I've never played Chrono Cross. I don't really have a burning desire to, either.
> 
> Un-beta'd, so please let me know if I have any mistakes (other than in Frog's dialogue -- I realize that's not real Early Modern English, but it's also not real Early Modern English in the game either, so I'm just gonna do what I want there)

Magus stood off by himself, as he usually did. The kids—for, with one exception, they were all too young to be considered anything else—laughed and talked tiredly by the fire. Magus pretended that he had no need of warmth.

"Dost thou think thyself above our revelry?" Frog's tone lacked mockery, which always surprised Magus.

"I think we've got a long way to go before we can celebrate," he informed the knight. "Just because we've beaten Retinite doesn't mean we're ready to face Lavos."

Magus was fairly certain that the croak Frog let out was agreement. "Still, it doeth their young hearts well to celebrate our victories when they come. Time will be enough for thy dour contemplations come morn."

A cool breeze wound its way through the trees, making Magus suppress a shudder. As a child, he had been kept warm by the magic that kept the kingdom of Zeal in its state of paradise. Then, after his first meeting with Lavos, the child Janus often wondered if he would ever be warm again. He told himself that he had grown accustomed to the drafty cold of the castles Ozzie kept, that his blood thickened with the decades spent seeking his revenge. Magus the adult refused to admit that the only times he really felt comfortable were when he was channeling fire and lightning, and the perpetual chill left his skin for a few moments.

"I noticed thou hast once again mastered the shadow arts that made thee such a difficult adversary when we first faced thee." It was a strange observation for someone who had little history with magic.

Magus looked over from the corner of his eye. Frog's expression was as open as his amphibious features allowed, but his hands were fisted in anticipation. "Are you worried that I won't be strong enough to fight?"

"Nay," Frog assured him. "Wouldst thou answer a question?"

Raising a thin blue eyebrow, Magus replied, "Depends on the question."

Frog ribbited a chuckle. "Aye, I suppose it would. When thou wer't attacked by Lavos, thine magic was weakened, was it not?"

The memory made Magus scowl, but he nodded.

"And didst thou not only recently gain back much of what thou hads't lost?"

Unsure about where the line of questioning was going, Magus crossed his arms over his chest and nodded again.

"So when thou asked if I wouldst like to fight thee, at the North Cape and before thou joined our ranks, thy power was much depleted, was't not?"

"What are you trying to imply?" Magus asked dangerously.

"I am merely asking thee questions," Frog answered calmly. "Thou art not required to answer."

Magus huffed in annoyance and turned away from the amphibian again.

Still, Frog pressed on. "Did thou wish for me to end thy life, that dark morn?"

For all of his training on elocution and oration, Magus could not come up with an answer that could deflect the question. His silence was just as damning.

"I dislike being used as an instrument of suicide," Frog remarked, just as conversationally as before. "But I will not lie and say I do not understand the desire."

"Was there a point to this?" Magus asked roughly. He had tried to forget that he'd actually wanted the slimy knight to end him that day. Not only had he failed at the one thing he had lived his life trying to accomplish, but he had done so at the cost of a young man whose life was infinitely more valuable than his own.

"Dost thou still wish to end thine own life?"

"Why, feeling murderous?" Magus sneered at Frog, who met his gaze calmly. Damn him for being so unflappable. What ever happened to the timid little worm of a sidekick that he had initially turned into a frog?

Frog croaked a reprimand. "Nay. I ask as thy companion, if not thy friend. We head into great uncertainty in the coming days, and I wish to assure myself of thine wellbeing."

"Don't worry," Magus answered, feeling the small warmth that had started to bloom in his chest at the word 'friend' shrivel up and die. "I'm not going to get us all killed."

"It is not the rest of us I worry for," Frog said softly. "I worry for thee. I fear that thou willst be too reckless with thine own life in the battle against Lavos. While I realize that any of us couldst die in this campaign, I wouldst hate to see thee die for a lack of will to live."

The kind words made Magus reel for a moment. "Idiot," he huffed at last. "You should probably hope for me to die. It'll break the curse I put on you."

Frog looked up at him curiously. "So it is possible?"

"It's the easiest way to do it," Magus answered honestly.

A smile crept onto Frog's face at that. "'Easiest,' thou hast said. Not only. That maketh me glad."

"You really are an idiot," Magus said to that. "I'm still not powerful enough to break it on my own."

"Thou willst be," Frog replied confidently. "I waiteth until then."

**Author's Note:**

> I am a firm believer that there's another way to break Frog's curse. I will not accept otherwise.


End file.
